Another "is this PSU good enough" question...

It's a little weak on the 12v rails.

What kind of problems are you having?

Looked at the specs - what does "Efficiency up to 80%" mean? Would a 50% efficiency (up to 80%) be deemed acceptable? Or a 30% efficiency?

I don't like this terminology from a manufacturer.

That means the PSU optimal output conditions, are when the system is using up to 80% of the total power output.

That should be stated in proper English by the manufacturer.

The better PSUs, will be rated as 80 plus gold/silver/bronze.

Im getting "display driver has stopped responding..." errors and my system just seems a bit slower than normal after I installed the new gfx card. Not in games but in general.

It seems it is a problem with the drivers of the graphic card. I would reinstall them. Download them form the web to be sure you have the lastest ones.

I agree with Henry. That's usually caused by a flaky graphics driver.

If your system seems slower, you probably need to do some routine maintenance and malware scans.

Tried reinstalling driver a few times with no luck so I doubt it has something to do with that. Unless ATI has released a faulty driver..

So my PSU should be good enough even for OC'ing cpu and gpu?

I don't think you'll have a problem with a slight OC. Just keep an eye on your temps.

Yes, agree! That is the proper terminology to describe a PSU. And if it is not 80+, let them just state the max efficiency, not "up to ---". Reminds me of "up to 75% discount" whereby, a 2% discount would still be within the advertised statement.

Did you overclock the card?

Yeah. 950/1100 so far

One way to look at it is: If your PSU wasn't strong enough, then it shouldn't even POST... As another poster has stated, your V12+ rails are a bit weak ontop of that your OCing your card, Plus ATI's drivers aren't exactly know for stability....

I would say set your card to stock settings, and research the drivers for a "known" stable driver.... Give that a shot, and if it doesn't crash... Then your issue was the driver or the OC... OC it a little and "wait and see", if it crashes, there is your problem the OC.

The PSU looks like it is an obsolete design (note the really heavy 5 volt rail) dressed up with passive PFC. And 34 amps, even if that is the maximum 12 volt current, is light for a 550 watt PSU. A 450 watt Corsair produces 33 amps. A 550 watt Corsair produces 41 amps.


Not exactly true. While the system is POST'ing, it's under a minimal load and the graphics card is loafing along under a 2D load. Even in an older video card, going to a 3D gaming load will double the power it consumes.

If your system is resetting/rebooting, you probably have one or more of the following problems:
1. Unstable overclock. I don't like overclocking graphics cards. The temps run too high anyway.
2. Unstable drivers.
3. Inadequate 12 volt power.

My system isnt rebooting. I get freezes and pixelating, then grey screen and then the "driver has stopped..." message. And it has only happened once while gaming. Also happened before i OC'ed my card.

About temps. Im only hitting 65 degrees after 20 mins of Kombustor and 2 runs of Vantage  

Check the event viewer. If you're getting ATI errors in the system category, you likely have a flaky graphics driver.

Display driver amdkmdap stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

15 of those in the last 24 hours...

Yep, that's the one. I was just working on a PC about a month ago. It had windows 7 and a 4870. They guy told me it kept freezing on him randomly. It was just an outdated graphics driver.

EDIT: version 10.6 has been released.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/catalyst-drivers-radeo...

Already tried that with the same results.

I'll try later with all OC's disabled and see what happens